MY TRUTH: Because of them, I am…

By Cheryl Smith

winwithBlackWomen

Have you ever been in a space and didn’t realize it until you had come out of that space?

You know, sometimes you will hear someone say, “We were poor and we didn’t know it.”

Well, I was in a space where I didn’t know if the light I saw was daylight at the end of a tunnel or the lights of a train coming at me.

It wasn’t until I realized how full of joy I had while sitting in on phone calls with thousands of women interested in making the world a better place, that I realized how bad I was feeling be- cause of all the negativity being spread around.

Now those calls were full of positive expressions and affirmations. Women were praising one another, sharing love and information, sprinkled with prayers, tears, and expressions of love.

This was a unique group of women who made my heart sing.

In a message, they told who they were and what they were about:

Who we are we: Win With Black Women/ Black Women United

Follow: @WinWithBlackWomen IG / Twitter

We are a collective of intergenerational, intersectional Black women leaders throughout the nation. We are business leaders, political strategists, student leaders, faith leaders, tech leaders, labor leaders, pioneers in sports, music and entertainment, movement leaders, and beyond. We have come together within our personal capacities to stand united in support of Black women.

We were motivated by our collective concern with the narrative and treatment of all the Black women within the 2020 VP candidate selection. Our belief is that no matter your political affiliation – you should have been outraged by the treatment of Black women in that process.

We gathered on our first Zoom call in August 2020 — that night 90 Women gathered after an urgent email calling for action. We decided to write an open letter to speak out against racism and sexism-that letter was signed by more than 26,000 Black Women leaders.

We made clear that the pathway to the White House and unifying our nation was to #WinWithBlackWomen. We were vocal and organized to not only advocate for a Black women VP candidate but to also ensure a historic victory for Black women running for office across the nation.

We met every Sunday there-after.

Since then we have grown to more than 3600 Black women leaders within the network. Members of our collective have played a significant role in the historic 2020 election and 2021 GA special election. Our members have helped to raise more than $600,000 in the recent political cycle and our hashtag #WinWithBlackWomen has received more than 600 million impressions reaching and moving millions.

Additionally, we have supported the efforts of leaders advocating for a Black woman in the US Senate (#KeeptheSeat), mobilized to support the GA runoff with food trucks, fundraising, and influencer engagement (#thankyouGA and #LivefromGA) and the appointment of Black women to critical positions in the current White House Administration including the US Supreme Court.

We continue to push back against racism and sexism through open letters. We continue to organize and leverage our talent, influence, networks, and brilliance into areas of collective alignment.

We are committed to three goals

1. Eliminating the racist and sexist attacks on Black women
2. Working within our personal capacities to support the historic number of Black women running for elected office
3. Elevating the agenda and collective power of Black Women

Now on the first call I joined there were more than 44,000 women and there were men on as well.

There was a lot to talk about and $2 million was raised to continue the work.

It is important to note there were the speakers who were methodical, spiritually grounded, strategic, loyal, compassionate, focused, self-actualized, loving, uplifting, and highly intelligent. Did I also say they were all so beautiful?!

For the organizers to meet for four years before extending an open invitation shows how serious they were about the work. They were getting things done and thankfully they reached a point to invite others in. I told you they were smart.

They also knew everyone loved to be on a moving train. So they did a lot of heavy lifting and I am so pleased to see so many getting on board.

I look forward to those Sunday evening calls. I am so glad that we have so many ways of communicating because it does help to know you are not alone and in need of support, especially when you don’t know you are.

Check them out. Your life will be enriched because these women are who and what our ancestors dreamt of.